More than 60 game designers and developers gathered on XMG’s rooftop patio last Thursday for a networking event hosted in partnership with Chartboost. An army of mobile game entrepreneurs were in attendance discussing life as Toronto-based developers and looking for opportunities to help each other navigate the space. Of course BBQ hotdogs and maybe a bit of beer were on hand as well.

XMG regularly hosts networking parties for no other reason than to take advantage of the weather, great view and a good time with friends; but this one had a mission beyond the drinking and game talk: find your best match for in-game cross promotion.

Chartboost – known to have a heart for the indie scene just like XMG – offers a cross-promotion technology that allows mobile game developers to buy, sell or trade users directly with e-specific apps, skipping the mediation and the 50% cut of an ad network. The free service allows smaller developers to tap into cross-promotion and better compete with large publishers. The party was a stage to help Toronto indie mobile game developers to find similar developers with whom they can set up advertising trades and has been a success on all accounts, knitting the Toronto mobile gaming scene even tighter together.